Investors are getting crushed by today's low interest rates, which Federal Reserve officials now say will last at least through late 2014. But there are alternatives to one-year CDs paying 1 percent or 10-year Treasuries, which yield just less than 2.1 percent annually. Several Chicago-area stocks are paying dividends three to four times that Treasury return, according to a Bloomberg analysis.
“Stocks have become more appealing, and many investors have now built dividend-paying stocks into their portfolios,” says Cori Johnson, a portfolio manager at Chicago-based Nuveen Investments. In Illinois, Chicago-based Exelon Corp. and Integrys Energy Group Inc. are among the companies with the highest yields. Utilities long have been considered havens for “widows and orphans” because many pay generous dividends to offset slow growth prospects.